Big Tobacco's Lethal and Unjust Targeting
The tobacco industry uses predatory and relentless tactics to attract new customers and keep people addicted. Big Tobacco continues to use powerful marketing tactics to segment people based on their race, gender and sexual orientation.
In particular, the tobacco industry has used menthol flavors and marketing to racially segment and target certain customers, especially Black Americans, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ+) communities, and youth.
In the Black Community
For decades, tobacco companies have targeted Black communities with menthol tobacco products and marketing.
As a result of that targeting, today 85% of Black people who smoke vs. 29% of white people who smoke use menthols.
Institutional racism plays a part in these ongoing disparities: despite overwhelming evidence of this targeting, the FDA excluded menthol products from the 2009 federal law that took other flavored cigarettes off the market
Delnevo, CD, et al., "Banning Menthol Cigarettes: A Social Justice Issue Long Overdue," Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 22(10): 1673-1675, 2020.
In the American Indian Community
Smoking is an epidemic-level health problem in Minnesota's tribal communities. The cigarette smoking rate for American Indians in Minnesota is 59%.
An estimated 42% of urban American Indian smokers in Minnesota use menthol.
Unfortunately, these disparities start young. The 2022 Minnesota Student Survey found 25 % of American Indian students were current tobacco users.
For generations, the commercial tobacco industry has corrupted Native tobacco practices and has exploited Native images and beliefs in advertisements.
Forster J, Poupart J, Rhodes K, et al. Cigarette Smoking Among Urban American Indian Adults - Hennepin and Ramsey Counties, Minnesota, 2011.MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2016;2016(65):534-537.)
Minnesota Department of Health. 2022 Minnesota Student Survey.
D'Silva J, O'Gara E, Villaluz NT Tobacco industry misappropriation of American Indian culture and traditional tobacco. Tobacco Control 2018;27:e57-e64.
In the LGBTQ+ Community
The tobacco industry has shamefully targeted the LGBTQ+ community, including with the infamous "Project SCUM" marketing program.
Nationally, 51% of lesbian or gay and 46% of bisexual smokers use menthol cigarettes. Among Minnesota 11th graders, 20% of lesbian, gay, bisexual or queer students said they currently use tobacco products.
RJ Reynolds. Project SCUM. December 12, 1995.
Delnevo, CD, et al., "Banning Menthol Cigarettes: A Social Justice Issue Long Overdue," Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 22(10): 1673-1675, 2020.
Johnson SE, Holder-Hayes E, Tessman GK, King BA, Alexander T, Zhao X. Tobacco Product Use Among Sexual Minority Adults: Findings From the 2012-2013 National Adult Tobacco Survey. Am J Prev Med. 2016;50(4):e91-e100.
Minnesota Department of Health. 2022 Minnesota Student Survey.
Targeting Other Communities
Tobacco industry documents reveal that Big Tobacco has engaged in decades-long segmentation and targeting of Hispanic and Asian/Pacific Islander immigrants in the U.S.
Black youth have higher rates of cigar smoking than their white counterparts, thanks to Big Tobacco's marketing.
Big Tobacco targeted AAPI communities, taking advantage of their unique countries of origin and cultural norms, high levels of business ownership, and other attributes.
Flavored hookah products are also targeted at youth. Hookah use is not unique to any community or culture and is becoming increasingly common among young people from many different backgrounds.
Acevedo-Garcia D, Barbeau E, Bishop JA, Pan J, Emmons KM. Undoing an epidemiological paradox: the tobacco industry's targeting of US Immigrants. Am J Public Health. 2004;94(12):2188-2193. doi:10.2105/ajph.94.12.2188
Delnevo, CD, et al., "Banning Menthol Cigarettes: A Social Justice Issue Long Overdue," Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 22(10): 1673-1675, 2020.
2022 National Youth Tobacco Survey
Muggli ME, Pollay RW, Lew R, Joseph AM. Targeting of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders by the tobacco industry: results from the Minnesota Tobacco Document Depository. Tobacco Control
Momenabadi, V., Hossein Kaveh PhD, M., Hashemi, S. Y., & Borhaninejad, V. R. (2016). Factors Affecting Hookah Smoking Trend in the Society: A Review Article. Addiction & health, 8(2), 123-135.
Targeting Teens
Why is Big Tobacco so obsessed with hooking teens? Here's why: if teens never start smoking, they probably never will. Nearly all smokers (95% to be exact) start by the time they're 21. Big Tobacco knows this and uses the same tactics they used for smoking to hook kids on vaping. In fact, internal documents revealed e-cigarette giant JUUL targeted kids as young as eight years old. JUUL used a sophisticated marketing program that included summer camp, school programs and hundreds of young social media influencers.
Congressional memo. Supplemental Memo for Hearing on 'Examining JUUL's Role in the Youth Nicotine Epidemic: Parts I & II.' June 2019.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2014. Analysis by the American Lung Association.
